The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1887-03-20
RANDOM NOTES.

from salary, S32n,0nO from wedding fees, SN,uOp; /
while In his recapitulaton he has his income /
from lectures $4,000, slight difference of
si30,0O0 frop salary, siS0,000 another slight In.
crease of only:s23oocD; and from wedding fees in
his summary be ha. for some reason best known |
TO himself cut the poor preacher OF from $1,000,
rs he only allows him $1,000 instead Of the frst-
estimated $1,000 from this source. Query;
Wonder II Howard wasn't the man who figured
the Worlds circulation and did II by the same
peculiar method he employed In the Ucccher-
income alcuntion7 Howard may make s20,mC0
q ycnr with his pen, but " this is the best he
can do In the arithmetic line he couldn't pass n
civil-scrvicc examination for u al 600 clcrkshp
-.
In the spring the fancy of many Americans is
to 20 abroad. All such persons will avoid cm-
bnrrasncnt if while In foreign countries they
bcnr In mind the fact that, according TO personal
instructions given by the State Department to
diplomatic officers of the United States, while
the social relations OF n diplomatic agent to his
own countrymcn resident in or visiting the CAPT.
tai where he resides should be cordial. they ibis
countrymcn, have no claim upon his hospitality.
requiring him to assume expenses or burdens
not in accord with his official duties or compon-
sstion."
The first newspaper published in this city was
called The Washington Gazette, and was owned
and edited by Mr.. BENJAMIN More. II antcdates
the present century us II was started here In liza
as II bi.wcckly. Wednesday and Saturday, and
continued until tho National Intelligtnccr was
established. into which It was absorbed.
Tho Gazette was In n sense nh importation. II
had Its birth in Boston, the editor being au Eng
lshman named Wilson, He removed to this Dis
trtct and sold his plant TO MIR. More, who con-
ducted the management Of the paper M to the
time of his dcath.
4 In fptr rf fhot tirat las, pf fbs
original Washington journal use the word
journal advisedly, rs It fits the character of tho
publication more appropriately than does the
business term of newspaper. II was lust about
tho size of the Philadelphia star, which is riile
larger than II first-clnss theatre programme, md
was well-printed. It announces rather vaguely
it's location "ncxt to the hotel" its subscrip-
tion as -four dollars u year. payable quarterly.
and .olicits ioh printing.
Among all OF our Oldest inhabitants I hnvc
found but one who could specify the site of that
"hotci." Some got 1t as far west as the corner of
Twentieth street and the Avenue. where President
Madison resided later on after the business trip
of the British army to Washington; Others hnd II
at near the foot of Eleventh street. hut its pre-
else location was at Ninth street aud Pennsylva-
mia avenue east. Tho building still stands; 1t was
known In the last century as the Eastern Branch
Hotel" aud was the first hostery In Washington.
There was very little trouble in running u
newspaper in those days, Judge. rs the two most
important factors the clitor and reporter. seem
| to have been unknown. There was no local news
| anil no editorial comments. A few stanzas of
poetry, generally from Shakespeare, relieved the
monotony of the outfit and the reading matter
consisted of European intelligence aud notes
| from the leading American cities. The news of
| April and May from Italy, France. and England
appeared in the issue Of August, and items from
| Boston. New York, Philadelphia. and Norfolk
| were about a fortnight old. The advertising col.
umns were well patronized, and were generally
| devoted to rea-estate sales and runaway negroes
Occasionally you meet with reward offered TO,
an indentured apprentice who has jumped hi.
master. but IL il always small. While the owner
OF a slave would put up twenty-five or fifty dol
lars for his RETURN the average master of the mp
prentice would fix the reward at halfpcnny
The reason of this is obvious. He came in for tn,
lads bond-money, which was more valuable tina,
the runaway apprentice.
Where stands that abomination Of Senator In
galls-nnd, indeed II is nm abomination to every
boy, when viewed from eyes sensitive to the lie
quirements of art-the Peace Monument" tn
first execution In Washington occurred
l remember that when the work upon tn
structure commenced met that king Of chicken
fighters. old man Eslin. standing under one o
the trees In the Capitol grounds, and between
much profanity you all recollect how he used {
swear he explained to me that q monuncn
, ought to be built there, or tombstone, for o.
that exact spot he saw tho first man hanged i
this city
. II was very early in this century. prior to Il,
War of 1872. and the crime for which the vctii
died was wife murder.
II was very little boy nj the time" sal
Eslin, "but saw the whole business. The seat
2 fold was set up Just where that monument
t,tlI Ir,,ss
i and all that remember was that he had killc
his wife and the hanging was lust as public Il
: an auction sale hundreds aud hundreds Of pee
pie coming here from Alexandria. Prime
: George. ana Montgomery to witness It,"
-.
= What pity II is that no one ever studied int
s old Mr.. Eslin's knowledge ind acquaintance Wit
= the carly history Of our city and obtained fror
r him the incidents surrounding the birth an
q early growth of Washington. II Is queer tina
: George Alfred Townsend, who at one time mad
a specially of that sort of thing, never intel
A viewed him. One reason, ! reckon, that kcI
!. most people away from bothering him wit
! questions was his irascibility, and the blunt soi
Of style of his language In addressing one it wa
, so direct, emphatic, and nrofane that IL em
harnssed n sensitive man.
I Eslln's land laid above Meridian II ILL., and eitle
upon portion of 1t or on the property adjoining
. where now Mount Pleasant is located, was tn
race-track in early days. This, however, was nc
the first race-track In Washington; II stood somt
, where in the White Lot, but was short-livet
q Pool-eelling wns unknown in those days, and. q
D professional gambling was not permitted on til
course. the sweatcloths, spinning. .jennys, an
, other games of chance were carried on across til
, Pourteenth-street rond, ON the grounds of tn
r old Stone plantation II was only few dnys ag
, that one of our oldest and wcalthicst either
fhnth IN, Al
at one of the meetings. where he lost nn cntiI
weeks wages -four dollars in trying to bcs
"chuck-n-luek."
, II was on this Ince-cOurse that some entcrpri
ing n forth American anticipated Buffalo Bill an
his Wild West Show, for nearly fifty years ago
visiting delegation OF the winncbago Indian
, who were camped in the outskirts of the cit
gave buffalo hunts, war dances, mimic combat
, ana all that sort OF thing on these grounds.
-.
II the surveyors line, which, like death. leye
, everything, and II the march Of improvement
toward the northwestern section has not remove
II. there still remains ono of. Washingtons %
landmarks on the knloruInu hills 10 was n son
bre, subdue1 little vault, and the two tablets q
its face memoralze,, among Others. the first IN
, only pronounced poet laureate of the Unite
! states, Joel Barlow. who first owned kalorain
and who died I'm Russia while holding the positit
, Barlows sfame ms n poet rested upon his "Hasi
| Pudding ana the natural epic entitled the &c
: lirnbnd."
I In that same vault the remains OF Commodo
n Decatur were temporarily placed after his fnt
= duel with Barron at Bladcnsburg.
i kalorlina was the title by which Joel Bnrlo
= designated his property, but as far bnck ~ Il
memory Of middle-agcd men runs II was know
u here as BomfOrl's Woods, Col. George Boinfor
: Of the Ordnance Corps. being Its Owmsrup To Il
: time Of his death. lsis The vault refer To W.
v his family vault.
= =. i,omford was the Inventor of the ir-, bon
a projecting cannon ever used. lie called II II
q "Columbind." most probably in honor OF ia
N lows poem, and Geu. paIhau, of the Fren,
p nriny, subsequently introduced an almost exact
e similar piece Of ordnance for the service Of |
o government, Bomford'- invention was moi y,
tecte1 by patents.
Q The mansion at kulornina was yrry similar
u tia, of Commodore Porter, which stood nj Il
VI head Of Sixteenth street. II was used us
e smallpox hospital during the war, nnd was d
J, stroyod by fire soire time along In lss' or 1851